There were 4 characters at level 22 (the beguiler made 22, I had made a mistake in the original post), 2 characters at level 21, and one at level 20 (although as a goliath he had LA+1 since we played under 3.5 rules).

Oti- I actually am running some of Serpent's Skull right now as well, but I never intended to run the whole AP, and mostly I'm just borrowing heavily from it (not really running it RAW). My group is currently exploring Saventh Yhi (more specifically Savinth's tomb, which I've fully detailed). Once they've finished they plan to take all their loot and return to their home city via teleportation magic, and at that point I'm going to end the campaign. Tomorrow they will be exploring the final section of Savinth's tomb, and hopefully the next weekend we will be onto our first session of Age of Worms.

It's great that you took the time to create Savinth's Tomb. What character levels did you create it for? Good luck with Age of Worms!

I'm sure you do need a break! I'm just about to start this campaign. Any tips if you were going to do it all over again? I think I'm going to run it using Pathfinder and only the core book and Advanced Players Guide for PCs to build from. Right now it looks like it will only be 3 players, so I'm thinking I might have to scale back some of the encounters.

I am a big fan of Pathfinder and am now in the middle of DMing Serpent's Skull (starting the third book). I think using Pathfinder would be the way to go, if you don't mind doing some conversions. Although you could play with no conversion and the higher power of Pathfinder characters over 3.5 Core would probably compensate for the fact that you have 3 players.

If I had to do it over again I would use 3.5 Core and have anything above core have to be specifically approved by the DM. It really depends on your players and how good they can be at designing powerful characters within the rules. Two of the characters in this group were extremely powerful, especially in the end game and it was tough to keep the game balanced.

Our campaign started in January 2009 and ended in July 2012, after 54 sessions of play. It was played under 3.5 rules. There were a total of 7 players that played throughout the campaign, although average attendance per session was between 5 and 6. We played all twelve modules of the Age of Worms adventure path, and in addition played through the Istivin mini adventure path and Death of Lashimire (Dungeon #116), right before The Spire of Long Shadows.

We had six or seven characters that had permanent deaths, i.e. where they had to roll a new character. All but three of them happened in the Whispering Cairn and the players just started similar characters. Two happened during Three Faces of Evil when the player that was playing the aasimar paladin changed to a halfling rogue/swashbuckler and another player changed to beguiler (I forgot what he played before). Finally the last one happened during the Spire of Long Shadows where the player changed from playing a barbarian to playing a fighter/paladin/kensai. This death was particularly unlucky as the barbarian failed his saving throw on a prismatic spray cast by Mak'ar, Harbinger of Worms, and was transported to the Positive Energy Plane where he died. As true resurrection was beyond their means at the time, he had to roll a new character.

There were dozens of other deaths from which characters were raised, resurrected or (in the last two adventures) true resurrected.

The toughest encounters, in my opinion, were:

- Most of the encounters in the Spire of Long Shadows, particularly the fallen angels. That adventure was by far the toughest one in the campaign.
- Dragotha: Took two full sessions to complete, although the ending was very anticlimatic as the Radiant Servant of Pelor destroyed Dragotha (yes, I allowed all splat books and I do regret it). Having said that, without that ending it could have been a TPK.
- Whispering Cairn air warriors (forgot name): Extremely tough low level encounter. Two characters survived that encounter and it was close to a TPK.
- Three Faces of Evil against the temple of Hextor. The party actually escaped on their first attempt, leaving behind the corpse of one of their allies (who later rolled the beguiler).
- All Broodfiend encounters, at least until the party fighters started using Sheltered Vitality. A lot of money was spent on true resurrections as a result of these.
- Of course, Kyuss, although probably not as tough as the previous ones, even with Divine Rank 1 since the party didn't successfully fight despair (they did destroy the unlife vortex though).

All but the goliath fighter attended the final battle. There was also one Solar Ranger 4 gated in by the cleric, and another solar gated in by the wizard during the fight.

On Kyuss' side, there was Lashonna, 6 Blessed Angels, and 10 Broodfiends (these came in three waves throughout the fight).

Kyuss only received damage from one hit from the sphere of annihilation (he then cast gate on it and it was destroyed), several hits from the solar ranger that was aided by the Instill ability of the Kensai and thus hitting every time, a few hits from the Kensai before he figured out that it was more efficient to use Instill, and finally a retributive strike from the staff of the magi that belonged to the wizard, which is what ended up killing him before he could Time Stop and Harm himself to full hit points for the second time.

The Broodfiends and Blessed Angels were for the most part eliminated by the Beguiler's dominate monster and eventually the cleric using turn anathema to get rid of several of them. All spellcasters and the psion used greater dispell magic liberally, and the wizard actually used reaving dispel very successfully on Kyuss who then had to rebuff using time stop. The rogue and kensai mostly fought Kyuss' minions. It was overall a pretty well fought encounter.

It was a great campaign and a lot of fun. Now we get to decide who DMs the next one as I need a break!

Congratulations! My group is about halfway through Dawn of a New Age, with 7 characters of levels 20 and 21. I hope to be able to write a similar post within a couple of months. And I agree with the comment on high level play, I'm not sure if I will ever commit to DM a camaign that goes this high in level again, the sessions tend to move very slowly!

on 13 the Abomination charge; they appear clumsy as if not really used to moving on two legs. Their charge ends at the spell area, slipping and sliding and falling down. There are 5 abomination in this group; the sheer mass of them drives the first couple past the spell area; they are currently prone; but not helpless.

parties actions....

I stab the closest prone abomination with both swords, hoping to inflict sneak attack damage.

Attack roll 1: 1d20+6, damage roll: 1d6+3, sneak damage: 3d6

Attack roll 2: 1d20+6, damage roll: 1d6+2, sneak damage: 3d6

The second attack appears to possibly be a critical, so following is the critical confirmation roll and damage:

My order history says order 1443661 was shipped on 6/17/2010, however, I never received it. This is the second time this happens to me in the last 9 months, which makes me think this is an issue on my side. Please let me know if you can resend these items again. If not, I understand and will repurchase, but wanted to give this a shot before doing so. The items in the order are:

I've set these up to be reshipped with the upcoming subscription shipment. If missing packages continue to be an issue, we would suggest either changing the shipping address (to something like a work address if possible) or changing the shipping method.

My order history says order 1443661 was shipped on 6/17/2010, however, I never received it. This is the second time this happens to me in the last 9 months, which makes me think this is an issue on my side. Please let me know if you can resend these items again. If not, I understand and will repurchase, but wanted to give this a shot before doing so. The items in the order are:

According to the website, this order (moved from order #1370744) was shipped on March 18th, 2010, but I have yet to receive it. Can you please check the status of this order and let me know whether I will get a refund or these items will be shipped again? Thanks.

According to the website, this order (moved from order #1370744) was shipped on March 18th, 2010, but I have yet to receive it. Can you please check the status of this order and let me know whether I will get a refund or these items will be shipped again? Thanks.

<tumbles betwixt the abominations and throws a dagger at the SnakeMage that hits the mage a blow>

Caerwyn; with a 5ft step; you and Aahz could be 180 apart on the snake mage; and; as you do your roll; the others see the little guy on your shoulder ride you like a rolling log on a river and run over your body as your roll always staying on top and ends up back on your shoulder holding your ear.

Aushanna is a great fight. This is what my players had to go through when we played it: http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/olderProducts/dungeon/ shackledCity/archives/bhalHamatugnTPK&page=1#5

I will be traveling for the next two weeks, first on a work trip, then visiting the in-laws. I expect to have internet access but might not post as regularly as I otherwise would during this time. Apologies in advance.

Started doing some of the background rolls for my character, Caerwyn Dom. Here are the d100s:
1d100=75, 1d100=35, 1d100=63, 1d100=35, 1d100=92, 1d100=32, 1d100=84, 1d100=78, 1d100=32, 1d100=40
and here are the d6s:
1d6=1, 1d6=4, 1d6=2, 1d6=6
Oti, cant see you link; is blocked, nothing I can do about it; just send me the text please.

ok; if you want a random starting place or culture; that starting place would be Sumeria/Babylon; City of Ishtar after the goddess of the same name; her Avatar lives there and rules the city, population; about 300,000; 70% human, though all the dwarves have left and no one has seen them for two years or more, a good number of half elves and half orcs; and lots of Asheratis, traveling bands of Bhukas still live in or near the city.

This entire continents has been in civil war after the ruler of Babylon and Summeria was killed; along with his family; assassinated. One was from each countries and the cause of the alliance; the war was nasty beyond belief; deaths not easlily counted; but in the millions; depravity and all sorts of war crimes; both sides using demons or devils; vast human sacrifice; realy a very scarey place to be; good place to leave and seek adventure in the East hehe. The war is over now; for the most part; one leader has emerged as supreme and will be Sultan.

Before I can do you rolls; we need to have your starting area down as that really matters for social standing and wealth, surviving family members and the like.

Oti wrote:

Started doing some of the background rolls for my character, Caerwyn Dom. Here are the d100s:

Hi Valegrim, I found this post and read through the first few ones to learn more about the campaign. Will need to do some more reading, but I think I'm ready to start building a character. Just one quick question before I begin. What level should I make him?

I could play a rogue if you still need one. I am however a newcomer to PBP so if you want someone that is more experienced I completely understand. I do have almost 30 years of experience playing D&D at a table, so I'm not a total newbie.

Would you be wanting for someone to take over the character? Or roll a new one?

Right now doing the Istivin Trilogy as a side quest in between Champion Games and Gathering of Winds. Should be able to keep them at the appropriate levels since they are averaging level 10 now, and am planning to have them finish the 3rd Istivin adventure after GoW, so that they should be around 12-13 for Spire of Long Shadows.

There have been many PC deaths so far (about 12, 4 or 5 belonging to the same unlucky player who now plays the beguiler) and one TPK, at level 1, at the very beginning of Whispering Cairn, so was easy to restart.

I have been DM for this campaign for the past 14 months and the group has just finished Strike on Shatterhorn. I am planning on taking them through two side adventures before heading to Asylum, since the pary level is currently 17-18 and they need a little more experience before they continue. The party composition is as follows:

- LG male human Paladin 18 of St. Cuthbert: Lord Mayor of Cauldron. Has a cohort that is a LG male dwarf Cleric/Battlesmith/Church Inquisitor 16 of Moradin (I forget the breakdown between the classes). Died once and was raised, cohort has never died.
- LG male human Fighter/Exotic Weapon Master/Purple Dragon Knight 12/2/4: Spiked chain specialist. Renamed the PDK to Knights of the March (Grand March) since the player had a great backstory for it. Has a cohort that is a LG female gray elf Wizard/Archmage of 15th level. Has died 4 times, cohort has died once (or twice?) and has been raised.
- CG male wood elf Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer 10/1/7: Is a bow specialist and the party's damage machine. Has died 3 times and been raised.
- CG male gray elf Wizard 18: Has a coure eladrin (I think) familiar that has made a difference in some close fights, and died once. The wizard has only died once and was raised.
- CG male human rogue/fighter/tempest 11/2/4: Specialist in rogue abilities and good light fighter. Has died only once. Saved the party from a TPK early on by strategically hiding during the fight with Aushanna and recovering the corpses.
- LN male human cleric 17 of St. Cuthbert: Does a lot of blasting than normal given that there are other clerics in the party. Has died 4 times and was raised.
- LN male human monk/cleric/sacred fist 2/4/10 of St. Cuthbert: Smoking Eye template after sacrificing himself. Great grappler, buffer and all around defensive PC. Only PC that has never died.

The party used to have a hexblade that left at level 8, a fighter/kensai that left at level 13, and a brief appearance by a barbarian. I expect the remaining 7 players to finish the campaign together. It works out well since we average 5-6 players per session, so no major adjustments need to be done to the adventure as written, although when all 7 show up I beef up the encounters a bit.

I typically have 6 players show up, although the last few sessions it has been 4-5 only. Five of them are currently in Occipitus, having passed the first two parts of the Test.

There have been 3 deaths at the lower levels, and an almost TPK against Aushanna the Erinyes in Chapter 4. The only survivor was the rogue, who managed to Hide from Aushanna (didn't participate in the fight), and was able to retrieve the party's corpses. He will never let the group forget that one :)

Although Aushanna does have true seeing, true seeing gives no advantage against creatures that are hiding (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/trueSeeing.htm). Aushanna will still need to make a Spot check against opponents that are hiding, although will be able to see all invisible opponents.

They managed to detect and deactivate the trap on the doors to the room, thus saving a lot of healing resources. Then they fought the clerics and soldiers and won, although the Fighter died since he failed a save on two lightning bolts. I modified the adventure as written by placing two scrolls of raise dead on the priests, in order to give them a bit more of a fighting chance against Aushanna.

They finished this fight on round 17 or 18, so the next 2-3 rounds were spent raising the fighter and healing him, while the other wounded drank some potions. I didn't give them a warning of what was about to happen, although luckily for them, they did heal themselves somewhat anyway.

By the time Aushanna appeared, the Fighter and Ranger were wounded (low and half hps respectively), the rest were at or near full health. The cleric had some healing magic left, but not much, and a wand of cure moderate wounds. The wizard had probably half of his spells left. The paladin had already used his lay-on-hands earlier in the day, during the ambush at the entrance to the building.

The main problem is that they were separated, and the cleric has a movement rate of 20 (10 in water). The paladin was flying, since the wizard had cast fly on him earlier to fight the soldiers above. The cleric and fighter were on the platform below. The rogue was hiding next to the platform, in the water. The ranger (archer) and wizard were on the middle level.

During the fight with Aushanna (who was flying the whole time), she started with unholy blight, killing the fighter again (luckily he stabilized at -8), and wounding the cleric. Then she proceeded to kill the ranger, who was damaging her somewhat, although her damage reduction helped her. Then she killed the paladin who had charged her (she would step back 5 feet and do a full attack on him with her bow). He also was inflicting some damage, although again diminished by damage reduction.

The wizard and cleric had both been trying to damage her, but their spells were not getting through her SR (neither had spell penetration). She resisted every single spell (scorching ray, searing light, and a few others).

Once the two main damage dealers were down, she killed the cleric while he was trying to heal himself and others. The wizard tried to escape but was too slow and also got killed by her arrows. At this time, Aushanna had 65 hps of damage (out of 116 hps I think).

She never saw the rogue, who had drank a potion of Hide before she appeared and was hiding with an adjusted roll of 37. Her +17 in Spot was not enough to see him. The rogue, seeing that he would not do a lot against a flying oponent with damage reduction, stayed hidden throughout the fight, and as soon as Aushanna left the room to get her allies to recover the bodies, revived the fighter with a potion, and proceeded to drop the corpses into their bags of holding and escape as fast as they could. I was nice enough to not roll for wandering monsters on the trip back, since that might have resulted in a TPK.

After using the remaining scroll of raise dead, and using most if not all of their remaining cash to purchase raise dead spells for the remaining three, they went back to the temple.

They were prepared with scrolls of bless weapon, and were fully buffed with extra hps, STR, DEX, flying spells, etc. Aushanna died on the second round after she appeared. It was a massacre.

To this day, my players talk about that epic battle they lost, and the revenge they got. And the rogue will never let them hear the end of it, since without him it would definitely have been a TPK!

I think that there is a decent chance that your party will experience a TPK, and therefore you should try to work it into the plot. If someone survives, that person can be the one to take the bodies away while Aushanna gets help to clean up the mess. Otherwise, I think the jail idea is a very good one. Finally, if one or two of the group are willing to sacrifice themselves to let the others go, you might be able to have Aushanna take them prisoner and then play a rescue mission by the rest of the party afterwards.

But I do think that your group has little to no chance of winning this fight in the situation they are :(

My group started playing the SCAP a month ago, and we've been playing it twice a week since then. This is quite an accomplishment for a group in its mid-thirties, with jobs, families, etc.! It's an indication of how much we like it, as previous campaigns would maybe see us getting together once every other month.

We're currently in Chapter Four, and the party composition is as follows:

We've had 3 deaths. The first one was the cleric, who died to Drakthar's energy drain the first time the party encountered him in Chapter 2. They came back prepared and quickly dispatched him.

The fighter has died twice. Once fighting ogres and orcs (wandering monsters) between Chapters 2 and 3. He made a mistake and provoked 2 attacks of opportunity from the ogres and that was it for him. The second time was against Tongueater and friends. He charged the room full of enemies, while the rest of the party stayed at the doorway and controlled the battlefield. Unfortunately for him, the Web the wizard cast to delay the enemy from killing the fighter was not enough, and he was killed by a baboon and 2 hillfolk.

There's been many instances of people going into the negative hit points. I think the only ones that have never been into negative hit points have been the monk/cleric and the rogue. I did help them a bit in Chapter 1, with some of my rolls, but other than that, they've played well enough that they've managed to minimize deaths. And it's a pretty well-balanced party so that helps.

Typically I've had 6 people attend the sessions, so I haven't altered the adventure. However, the past couple of times, all 8 have showed up and they've had an easier time, so I'm thinking of trying to make it a little tougher next time they do.